Central Coast Lavender · Field NotesThe August Quiet
After the cutting, the estate begins its slowest work.
August at the estate is quieter than July, and busier than it looks. The rows have been cut. What stood in bloom now hangs in the dark, giving up its water a little at a time.
The oil in drying lavender was not made in August. It was made in the sun, weeks ago; August only concentrates it. Much of what a person carries works the same way.
Summer is on the outside of the cottage. Inside, the light is low and the air smells of the whole month at once. Outside it is still summer; inside, the season is already finished.
One bottle from every distillation is kept back and opened again over time, until the aroma has settled and opened and become fully itself. Only then is the lot released. There is no version of that which goes faster.
What is already finished, and only waiting to be opened?
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